Ancient Mesopotamia 3300-331 B.C.E.: Social Class and Economy Research Article from World Eras

This Study Guide consists of approximately 85 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more -
everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Ancient Mesopotamia 3300-331 B.C.E..

Citizenship. While there are no Mesopotamian terms for "citizen" before the law nor any known declarations of citizens' rights, existing written texts indicate that distinctions were drawn between native-born "sons of the city" or "sons of the land" on the one hand and foreign residents on the other. In court records and ration lists, for example, the name of a foreign-born citizen appears with a notation regarding geographic origin, such as "Kassite" or "Elamite." The king's first obligation seems to have been to his nativeborn subjects. According to a didactic literary composition known as Advice to a Prince,

(If a king) denied due process to a citizen (literally "son") of (the Babylonian city of) Sippar, but granted it to an alien, (the god) Shamash, judge of heaven and earth, will establish an alien due process in his land...